JP2007183110A - Information output control method and program for in-vehicle terminal apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly control the output time of information provided by navigation functions and the other functions. <P>SOLUTION: The in-vehicle terminal apparatus 1 is provided with a virtual machine 101 for requesting the output of a first information, and a navigation part 115 for requesting the outputting of a second information, wherein the time of out putting the first information is planned, by forming a first index showing the amount of the first information based on the formed first index. The second index, indicating the amount of the second information, is formed based on the first index and the second index, the time outputting the first information or the second information are planned. In this case, the time for outputting the first information and the second information is planned so that the accumulated value of the sum of the first index and the second index during a fixed time in the past, and newly requested first index regarding the first information does not exceed the previously determined threshold. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information output control method and program for an in-vehicle terminal device that provides a navigation function and a function other than the navigation function, and in particular, appropriately sets an output time of information provided by each of the navigation function and the function other than the navigation function. It relates to a technique for controlling.

In general, an in-vehicle terminal device that provides a navigation function such as a car navigation system is required to output guidance information at an appropriate timing so as not to hinder the driving of the driver. As a technique for providing guidance information at an appropriate timing, for example, in Patent Document 1, information is provided excessively in a navigation device by selecting information that is an output candidate according to a preset priority order. It is described that the necessary information is provided accurately. Further, in Patent Document 2, when a user's utterance is detected in a navigation device, voice guidance is waited for a predetermined time based on guidance unnecessary information so as not to disturb the user's conversation. It is described.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-104003 JP 2002-156241 A

In recent years, some in-vehicle terminal devices have other functions such as an Internet connection function in addition to the basic function as a navigation device.
However, such an in-vehicle terminal device requires a mechanism for providing the driver with information provided from the navigation device and information provided by other functions at appropriate timing.
The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and relates to an information output control method and program for an in-vehicle terminal device capable of appropriately controlling the output time of information provided by a navigation function and other functions. .

The main invention of the present invention for achieving the above object is to provide an information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device having a virtual machine that requests output of first information and a navigation unit that requests output of second information. And the said vehicle-mounted terminal device produces | generates the 1st parameter | index which shows the information content of said 1st information, and the time which outputs said 1st information based on said 1st parameter | index is planned. And the step of performing.
According to the present invention, in the in-vehicle terminal device in which the output request for the first information based on other functions and the output request for the second information that is the guide information output from the navigation unit are generated, the first information Based on the first indicator for, the time for outputting the first information can be planned. Therefore, information can be provided to the driver at an appropriate timing.

  Note that the navigation device described in Patent Document 1 is based on the premise that meta information is added to information in order to select information. However, since such information is not added to general application software in advance, output control using meta information is not always effective. In addition, although it is described that the minimum value of the interval at which information is output is described, optimal control is difficult with this alone, and even in the case of application software designed to output information at short intervals. There is also a possibility of unintended operation.

  The technique described in Patent Document 2 basically relates to the competition between the output of the navigation device and the user's speech or driving operation, and the contention of information output between general application software and the navigation device. There is no specific reference to controlling

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately control the output time of information provided by the navigation function and other functions.

  Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<< First Embodiment >>
== Device configuration ==
The in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the first embodiment detects the current position of the vehicle using GPS (Global Positioning Systems), and provides guidance information such as the current position of the vehicle to a hard disk (Hard Disk) or a DVD (Digital A so-called navigation function is provided in which a map information stored in a recording medium such as a Versatile Disc is output to a display device such as a display in superposition with map information. Further, the in-vehicle terminal device 1 has various additional functions such as an audio visual function for reproducing sound and video recorded on a recording medium such as radio sound and CD / DVD, and Internet connection.

  FIG. 1A shows a hardware configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1. The CPU 11 performs overall processing in the in-vehicle terminal device 1 and executes software for realizing functions provided by the in-vehicle terminal device 1. In addition, a program executed by the CPU 11 and data are stored in the memory 12 including a RAM / ROM or the like. The external storage device 13 is a device that reads / writes data to / from a recording medium 131 such as a hard disk or a DVD / CD. The recording medium 131 stores various programs and data such as a program for realizing the operating system and application software 100, map information, voice data used for voice guidance, and video data.

  The sound control device 14 controls sound output to the speaker 141. The display control device 15 outputs an image on the display 151. The input control device 16 accepts a user operation input made on a user interface 161 such as an operation button, a touch panel, or a remote control device. The wireless communication device 17 provides a function of connecting to a communication network 171 such as a mobile phone network or a packet network connected to the Internet. The position information receiving device 18 receives position information transmitted from the GPS satellite 181 or the like.

  FIG. 1B shows the functions of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 realized by the hardware of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 or the CPU 11 executing a program stored in the memory 12 or the recording medium. In response to a request from the application software 100 or the like, the virtual machine 101 illustrated in FIG. 1 outputs an output request for information (hereinafter referred to as first information) to the virtual machine output control unit 102. An example of a virtual machine having such a function is a Java (registered trademark) VM. Note that the first information is, for example, text data or voice data that is a source of synthesized voice or character display on the screen, and includes at least an index that accurately or approximately represents the number of characters and a time length. It is information that can be calculated. The virtual machine output control unit 102 also outputs the first information to the character index evaluation unit 104.

The character index evaluation unit 104 generates a character index that is a value indicating the information amount of the first information based on the input first information, and outputs the generated character index to the virtual machine output control unit 102. .
The virtual machine output control unit 102 controls the output of the first information to the output unit 122 based on the character index input from the character index evaluation unit 104 and the guidance plan input from the route guidance planning unit 112. To do.
The character index database 103 stores an index such as a constant for reference when calculating the character index based on the first information or the second information. The character index database 103 stores an index for each type of information.

  First information output from the virtual machine output control unit 102 or guidance information output by the route guidance planning unit 112 (hereinafter also referred to as second information) is input to the output unit 122. The output unit 122 outputs audio based on the information to the audio control unit 121 and outputs video based on the information to the display control unit 123 according to the type of the first information or guidance information input. To do.

  The type of guidance information includes guidance information provided by voice in the voice data format (hereinafter referred to as “direct voice”), and voice is synthesized based on text data. Guidance information (hereinafter referred to as “synthetic voice”), guidance information provided by video (hereinafter referred to as “video”). There is.

  The voice control unit 121 controls the voice control device 14 to output the voice input from the output unit 122 to the speaker 141. The display control unit 123 controls the display control device 15 to output the video input from the output unit 122 to the display 151.

The navigation unit 155 that provides functions related to navigation includes a route search unit 111, a route guidance plan unit 112, a road information database 113, and a point information database 114.
Among these, the route search unit 111 performs a route search to the destination using the map information (road information) stored in the road information database 113 and the point information stored in the point information database 114, Is output to the route guidance planning unit 112.

  The route guidance plan unit 112 generates a guidance plan based on the result of the route search performed by the route search unit 111, and outputs guidance information to the output unit 122 based on the generated guidance plan. Further, the route guidance planning unit 112 outputs a guidance plan in which a list of information output by the route guidance planning unit 112 is described to the virtual machine output control unit 102. Note that the output of the guidance plan by the route guidance planning unit 112 is performed independently of the operations of the virtual machine 101 and the virtual machine output control unit 102.

  An example of the guidance plan is shown in FIG. In the same figure, the time column 201 shows the time indicating the timing of outputting the guidance information, and the data type column 202 shows the data type of the guidance information (“voice”, “synthesized voice”, “video”, etc.). However, a character index of guidance information is displayed in the character index column 203, a time required to output the guidance information is displayed in the length column 204, and information indicating the content of the guidance information is displayed in the content column 205. However, each is set. Note that the content column 205 is added for convenience of description, and may not necessarily be output from the virtual machine output control unit 102.

== Description of processing ==
Next, the character index calculation process performed by the character index evaluation unit 104 will be described. The character index evaluation unit 104 calculates a character index for the first information input from the virtual machine output control unit 102 and the guidance information input from the route guidance planning unit 112.

  First, a method of calculating a character index for guidance information whose data type is “synthesized speech” will be described as an example. In this case, the character index evaluation unit 104 obtains the character index by dividing the number of characters included in the text data that is the basis of the speech synthesis by the time required to reproduce the synthesized speech. For example, if the original text data is 10-character data “Mameru has arrived” and the result of speech synthesis is 2 seconds, the character index for this guidance information is The number of characters / length = 10/2 = 5.0.

  When the data type is “speech”, the character index evaluation unit 104 refers to the character index database 103 and calculates a character index. FIG. 3 shows an example of the character index database 103. In the figure, the file name column 221 outputs the file name of the audio data corresponding to the guidance information, the character index column 222 outputs the character index, and the length column 223 outputs the guidance information. The time required for each is set.

  When calculating the character index, first, the character index evaluation unit 104 searches the file name column 221 of the character index database 103 for a character index and a character index by searching for a file that matches the file name of the voice data corresponding to the guidance information. Get the length. For example, when the file name is “voice file No. 3”, the file name matches the file name indicated by reference numeral 233 in the character index database 103, so the character index evaluation unit 104 sets 4.0 as the character index. As a result, 3.0 is acquired. Note that if the character index database 103 does not match the file name of the voice data, the navigation unit 115, for example, sets the default character index set in advance and the length included in the file header information. And get.

  On the other hand, in the calculation of the character index for the first information input from the virtual machine output control unit 102, for example, the first information is given as a voice, and the number of characters is attached to the first information as metadata. In this case, a value obtained by dividing the number of attached characters by the reproduction time is used as a character index. When metadata is not attached to the first information, a predetermined value is used as a character index.

  Next, output control processing performed by the virtual machine output control unit 102 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the following description, the letter “S” added to the beginning of the reference sign means a processing step.

When the output request for the first information is input from the virtual machine 101, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines whether or not the vehicle is in a traveling state (S01). If it is a running state (S01: YES), the process proceeds to S02. Moreover, if it is not a driving | running | working state (S01: NO), it will transfer to S05.
In S02, the virtual machine output control unit 102 performs a cumulative character index calculation process to calculate a cumulative character index. Details of the cumulative character index calculation process will be described later.
In subsequent S03, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines whether or not the accumulated character index at each time obtained in S02 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (S03). If the accumulated character index at each time is less than or equal to the above threshold value (S03: YES), the process proceeds to S05. If the cumulative character index at each time exceeds the threshold (S03: NO), the process proceeds to S04.
If the output unit 122 is outputting information in S05 (S05: YES), the process proceeds to S04. If the output unit 122 is not outputting information (S05: NO), the process proceeds to S06. In S04, the virtual machine output control unit 102 waits for a predetermined time. After waiting, the process proceeds to S01. In step S <b> 06, the virtual machine output control unit 102 outputs information to the output unit 122.

Next, the accumulated character index calculation process in S02 and the determination process in S03 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 5 is a graph showing the total time change of the character index when the route guidance plan unit 112 outputs the guidance plan shown in FIG. In the figure, the vertical axis 301 is the sum of the character indexes, and the horizontal axis 302 is the time. FIG. 6 is a graph showing a time change of the cumulative character index corresponding to the graph 303 shown in FIG. The vertical axis 311 is a cumulative character index, and the horizontal axis 312 is time. Note that a straight line 320 shown in the figure indicates a threshold value (3.0) used in the determination process of S03.

  The virtual machine output control unit 102 sets the character index, for example, the total value of the character index at a certain time t in FIG. 5, the time t is equal to or greater than the value in the time column 201 in FIG. This is obtained by summing the values in the character index column 203 of the line that satisfies the condition that it is smaller than the sum of the column 201 and the length column 204. For example, if the time t is 47 (seconds), it is the sum of the values in the character index column 203 of the line indicated by reference numeral 213 in FIG. 2, so the character index in this case is the character index of the line indicated by reference numeral 213. The value in the column 203 is 5.0.

  The virtual machine output control unit 102 calculates a cumulative character index based on the character index obtained in this way. For example, the virtual machine output control unit 102 uses the cumulative character index at a certain time t as the cumulative character index output during the past fixed time T with reference to the time t (interval [t−T, t). Value) divided by T. For example, when T = 10 (seconds), the cumulative character index at time t = 47 (seconds) in FIG. 6 is a value obtained by integrating the character index in the section [37, 47) on the horizontal axis 302 in FIG. Is 1.0 divided by the length of this section 10 (seconds).

  The virtual machine output control unit 102 obtains an accumulated character index for the inputted guidance plan every time the guidance plan is inputted from the route guidance planning unit 112. In addition, when the virtual machine 101 requests output of the first information from the virtual machine 101, the virtual machine output control unit 102 calculates a cumulative character index at each time of only the requested output. The virtual machine output control unit 102 adds the calculated accumulated character index at each time to the position at the same time of the accumulated character index of the guidance plan obtained in advance. In the following description, a section where the cumulative character index is not 0 is referred to as an influence section.

  In S03, it is determined whether or not the accumulated character index obtained in this way exceeds a predetermined threshold value in the affected section of the output of the first information. For example, it is assumed that a request for outputting the first information having a character index of 4.0 and a length of 6.0 seconds is requested from the virtual machine 101 at time t = 27 (seconds). Here, when the cumulative character index for only the output request of the first information is shown in a graph, a graph 314 shown in FIG. 7 is obtained. Further, when the cumulative character index shown in the graph 313 in FIG. 6 is added to the graph 314 shown in FIG. 7, a graph 315 shown in FIG. 8 is obtained. As shown in the figure, in this case, since the threshold value 320 (3.0) is exceeded in the influence section 318, as a result of the determination in S03, the process proceeds to a standby process in S04.

  In the standby process of S04, the virtual machine output control unit 102 waits for a predetermined time set in advance. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S01. Here, the process proceeds to S01, and the determination of S03 is performed again at time t = 30 (seconds).

  If the cumulative character index at this time is shown in a graph, a graph 316 in FIG. 9 is obtained. When the cumulative character index shown in the graph 313 in FIG. 6 is added to the graph 316, a graph 317 in FIG. 10 is obtained. Here, as shown in FIG. 10, in the influence section 319, since the threshold value 320 (3.0) is not exceeded, the process proceeds to S05 as a result of the determination in S03.

  The threshold 320 is set to an appropriate value according to the driving situation at that time. For example, the threshold value 320 may be changed according to the traveling speed of the vehicle on which the in-vehicle terminal device 1 is mounted. Thus, by changing the threshold value 320 according to the traveling speed, information can be appropriately provided to the driver according to the driving state of the driver.

  As described above, according to the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the present invention, the output request for the first information and the output request for the second information that is the guidance information output from the navigation unit 115 are generated. The time at which the first information is output can be planned based on the first index for the first information and the second index for the second information. Therefore, information can be provided to the driver at an appropriate timing.

<< Second Embodiment >>
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the second embodiment is the same as the device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the first embodiment. The in-vehicle terminal device 1 according to the second embodiment is configured so that the virtual machine output control unit 102 performs the processing when the accumulated character index exceeds the threshold in addition to the processing performed by the virtual machine output control unit 102 according to the first embodiment. After changing the output method of information 1, the process of re-evaluating the accumulated character index is further performed.

  FIG. 11A is a flowchart illustrating an output control process performed by the virtual machine output control unit 102 in the in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the second embodiment.

When the output request of the first information is input from the virtual machine 101, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines whether or not it is in the running state (S11). If it is a traveling state (S11: YES), it will transfer to the process of S12. If it is not in the running state (S11: NO), the process proceeds to S15.
In S12, the virtual machine output control unit 102 calculates the accumulated character index by the same process as in S02 of FIG. 3, and obtains the accumulated character index at each time when it is assumed that it is output at the current time.
In the subsequent process of S13, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines whether the accumulated character index at each time obtained in S12 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. If the cumulative character index is less than or equal to the threshold (S13: YES), the process proceeds to S15. If the cumulative character index exceeds the threshold (S13: NO), the process proceeds to S17.

  In S <b> 17, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines whether or not the first information requested to be output is data that can adjust the output speed (hereinafter referred to as adjustable data). This determination is performed based on, for example, the data type of the first information. Here, if the data type is “synthesized speech”, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines that the first information is adjustable data.

If it is adjustable data (S17: YES), the process proceeds to S18. If it is not adjustable data (S17: NO), the process proceeds to S14.
In S14, if the output unit 122 is outputting due to another output request (S14: YES), the virtual machine output control unit 102 waits until the output ends. If the output is not in progress (S14: NO), the virtual machine output control unit 102 waits for a predetermined time (S20), and then proceeds to S11.

  In S18, the virtual machine output control unit 102 adjusts the output speed for the first information. When the data type is “speech synthesis”, the method of adjusting the output speed at this time includes, for example, a method of shortening by summarizing the text to be read, a method of reducing the speech speed, and the like. Other methods of speed adjustment will be described later.

The virtual machine output control unit 102 performs the adjustment process on the first information, performs the same process as S12 on the adjusted first information, recalculates the accumulated character index at the current time, and proceeds to S19 To do.
In S19, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines whether the accumulated character index obtained in S18 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. If the cumulative character index is less than or equal to the threshold (S19: YES), the process proceeds to S15. If the cumulative character index exceeds the threshold (S19: NO), the process proceeds to S14.

In S15, the virtual machine output control unit 102 determines whether the output unit 122 is outputting due to execution of another output request. If output is in progress (S15: YES), the process proceeds to S14. If not outputting (S15: NO), the process proceeds to S16.
In S <b> 16, the virtual machine output control unit 102 outputs the first information to the output unit 122.

  Next, a specific example of the output speed adjustment process in S18 will be described with reference to FIG. 11B. FIG. 11B shows six graphs (a) to (f) showing the time change of the accumulated character index.

In FIG. 11B, a graph 501 in (a), a graph 503 in (c), and (e).
Each graph 505 is a cumulative character index for the first information requested to be output. Also, the graph 502 in (b) is output for the graph 501 in (a), the graph 504 in (d) is output for the graph 503 in (c), and the graph 506 in (f) is output for the graph 505 in (e). The time change of the cumulative character index when the speed is adjusted is shown.

  First, a graph 501 shown in FIG. 11B is a case where the sum of the accumulated character index with the information output immediately before exceeds the threshold 320. In such a case, as shown in the graph 502, by adjusting the output speed of the first information so that the output time becomes longer, the accumulated character index may be output without exceeding the threshold 320. . In the case of speech synthesis, for example, the speaking speed of the first information may be slowed down.

  Similar to the case of the graph 501, the graph 503 is a case where the sum of the accumulated character index with the information output immediately before exceeds the threshold 320, but is output because the subsequent output is planned immediately after. This is a case where the time cannot be set long. In such a case, as shown in a graph 504, information may be output by slowly outputting information at the beginning and gradually increasing the output speed. In the case of speech synthesis, for example, an utterance may be divided for each utterance character, and the utterance speed of each divided utterance may be increased over time.

  A graph 505 is a case where the sum of the accumulated character index with the subsequent output exceeds the threshold value. In such a case, as shown in the graph 506, output may be possible by setting the output time short. In the case of speech synthesis, for example, the speech rate may be increased.

  The output speed of the first information may be determined within a predetermined range with the threshold 320 determined in S13 or S17 as an upper limit, or a value set for each case may be adopted. May be.

  As described above, in the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the present invention, when it is determined that the first information cannot be output, the first information is output after the output method of the first information is changed. Determine again if you can. Therefore, the first information can be output at a time close to the time when the virtual machine 101 originally planned to output.

<< Third Embodiment >>
Next, a third embodiment will be described. The device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the third embodiment is the same as the device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the first embodiment. In the in-vehicle terminal device 1 according to the third embodiment, the virtual machine output control unit 102 creates a virtual machine output plan (an example is shown in FIG. 13) that is a list of first information to be output from the virtual machine 101. As a result, the first information is output independently of the operation of the virtual machine 101. That is, the virtual machine output control unit 102 stores a virtual machine output plan, and the virtual machine output control unit 102 executes output to the output unit 122 according to the output plan.

  The in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the third embodiment executes a virtual machine output replanning process and a virtual machine output planning process. In the former virtual machine output replanning process, the virtual machine output plan is updated when the route guidance planning unit 112 gives a guidance plan to the virtual machine output control unit 102. By extracting all the lines in which the output of the first information is not currently performed from the output plan of the virtual machine and applying the virtual machine output plan process described below again from the oldest time, the virtual machine Update output plan for. In the latter virtual machine output planning process, the output of the first information is planned at a time when it is determined that the virtual machine 101 can output the first information when the virtual machine output control unit 102 is requested to output the first information. To do. Hereinafter, the virtual machine output plan process will be specifically described.

  First, when an output request for the first information is input from the virtual machine 101 to the virtual machine output control unit 102, the virtual machine output control unit 102 displays the guidance plan given from the route guidance planning unit 112 and the virtual machine. A time when the first information requested to be output can be output is searched with reference to the output plan. Then, the output plan of the virtual machine is updated so that the first information requested to be output is output at the searched time.

  The search for the time that can be output is performed, for example, by comparing the output time of the first information that is scheduled to be output last in the virtual machine output plan with the current time, and using the later time as the initial time, Is performed by performing a linear search in the direction of increasing time starting from. Further, by performing the same process as the cumulative character index calculation process in S02 of FIG. 4, the influence section for the first information requested to be output and the first information requested to be output are output from the virtual machine. The cumulative character index when inserted into the plan is obtained, and it is determined whether or not the first information requested to be output can be output by the same process as the determination process of S03 of FIG.

  For example, assuming that the guidance plan has the contents shown in FIG. 12 and the output plan of the virtual machine has the contents shown in FIG. 13, the composition is made from the virtual machine 101 to the virtual machine output control unit 102 at time 20 (seconds). Assume that a voice output (character index 4.0, output time 5.0 (seconds)) is requested. In this case, the overall output plan when the virtual machine output plan of FIG. 13 is integrated into the guide plan of FIG. 12 is as shown in FIG. Further, when the cumulative character index in this case is graphed, a graph 323 shown in FIG. 15 is obtained. In FIG. 15, a straight line 320 is a threshold value, and a section 326 and a section 327 are affected sections.

  In FIG. 15, for example, a cumulative character index corresponding to the output of the first information by speech synthesis at time 54 (seconds) is a graph 324 indicated by a broken line. When the graph 324 is added to the graph 323, a graph 328 in FIG. 16 is obtained. As shown in FIG. 16, in the influence section 326, even if the graph 324 is added, the accumulated character index does not exceed the threshold value, so it is possible to plan the output of the first information by speech synthesis at this time. It will be determined.

  In FIG. 15, for example, a cumulative character index corresponding to the output of the first information by speech synthesis at time 61 (seconds) is a graph 325 indicated by a broken line. When the graph 325 is added to the graph 323, a graph 329 in FIG. 17 is obtained. In this case, if the graph 324 is added in the influence section 327, the accumulated character index exceeds the threshold value, so it is determined that it is impossible to plan the output of the first information by speech synthesis at this time. Will be.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of times at which the output of the first information can be planned, for example, it is planned at the earliest time (in the above example, time 54 (seconds)) among the times that can be planned. To.

  As described above, according to the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the present invention, the overall output plan is generated based on the output plan of the first information and the output plan of the second information, and the first output plan of the overall output plan is first. Since the cumulative value of the first index and the second index is obtained and the time at which the first information or the second information is output is planned so that the cumulative value does not exceed a preset threshold value, It is possible to output information smoothly without concentrating. In addition, it is possible to avoid a conflict between the output of the virtual machine 101 and the output of the navigation unit 115 in advance.

<< Fourth Embodiment >>
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the fourth embodiment is the same as the device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the first embodiment. In the in-vehicle terminal device 1 according to the fourth embodiment, the virtual machine output control unit 102 notifies the virtual machine 101 of an output delay event in S04 of FIG. Hereinafter, processing related to notification of an output delay event will be described with a sequence diagram illustrating processing related to notification of an output delay event illustrated in FIG.

First, the application software 100 registers an output delay event processing routine in the virtual machine 101 (E01). Next, when an information output operation is performed by the application software 100 (E02), the virtual machine 101 outputs a first information output request to the virtual machine output control unit 102 (E03). When an output request for the first information is input, the virtual machine output control unit 102 executes the output control process illustrated in FIG. Then, when the standby process of S04 of FIG. 4 is performed, the virtual machine output control unit 402 outputs an output delay event to the virtual machine 101 (E04).
When the output delay event is input, the virtual machine 101 executes the output delay event program registered in E01 (E05).

  Here, the application software 100 determines whether or not the output of the first information is necessary. When the application software 100 determines that the output is not necessary, the application software 100 requests the virtual machine 101 to cancel the output request for the first information. Is output (E06). When the cancellation request is input, the virtual machine 101 outputs the cancellation request to the virtual machine output control unit 102 (E07). When a cancellation request is input, the virtual machine output control unit 102 deletes the output processing of the first information queued after being delayed from the output plan of the virtual machine.

  Thus, according to the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the present invention, the output plan of the virtual machine is notified to the application software 100, and the application software 100 controls whether to stop outputting the first information. Can do. For this reason, information that is out of date, information that is no longer necessary, or the like is not output, and information can be appropriately provided to the operator. The output load of the first information by the virtual machine 101 can be reduced.

<< Fifth Embodiment >>
Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. The device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the fifth embodiment is the same as the device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the first embodiment. In the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the fourth embodiment, the virtual machine output control unit 102 notifies the virtual machine 101 of an output start event in S06 of FIG. In addition, the virtual machine output control unit 102 notifies the virtual machine 101 of an output completion event when the output is completed. Hereinafter, processing related to notification of an output start event and output completion event will be described with reference to a sequence diagram illustrating processing related to notification of an output delay event shown in FIG.

First, the application software 100 registers processing routines for an output start event and an output completion event in the virtual machine 101 (E11, E12). Next, when an information output operation is performed by the application software 100 (E13), the virtual machine 101 outputs a first information output request to the virtual machine output control unit 102 (E14).
When an output request is input, the virtual machine output control unit 102 performs processing according to the flowchart of FIG. Then, when the output process of S06 in FIG. 4 is performed, the virtual machine output control unit 102 outputs an output start event to the virtual machine 101 (E15).
When the output start event is input, the virtual machine 101 executes the output start event program registered in (E11) (E16).
The output unit 122 outputs the first information (E17), and outputs an information output completion notification to the virtual machine output control unit 102 when the output is completed (E18).
When an output completion notification is input from the output unit 122 (E18), the virtual machine output control unit 102 then outputs an output completion event to the virtual machine 101 (E19). When the output completion event is input, the virtual machine 101 executes the output completion event program registered in (E12) (E20).

  Thus, according to the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the present invention, the virtual machine output control unit 102 notifies the virtual machine 101 of the output start event and the output completion event. For this reason, the virtual machine 101 can know that the output of the first information has started or that the output of the first information has been completed.

<< Sixth Embodiment >>
Next, a sixth embodiment will be described. The device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 described as the sixth embodiment is the same as the device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the first embodiment. In the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the sixth embodiment, in addition to the functions of the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the third embodiment described above, the virtual machine output control unit 102 changes to the virtual machine 101 when the output plan of the virtual machine is updated. Notify the event. In addition, you may make it add the function which notifies the output start event and output completion event of 4th Embodiment to the vehicle-mounted terminal device 1 of 6th Embodiment further.

  In the in-vehicle terminal device 1 according to the sixth embodiment, when the virtual machine output control unit 102 outputs a guidance plan from the route guidance planning unit 112 of the navigation unit 155 in the virtual machine output re-planning process, the virtual machine output control unit 102 Notify the output plan update event. Hereinafter, the process related to the notification of the output plan update event will be described with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG.

First, the application software 100 registers an output plan update event processing routine in the virtual machine 101 (E31). Next, when an information output operation is performed by the application software 100 (E32), the virtual machine 101 outputs a first information output request to the virtual machine output control unit 102 (E33). Thereby, the virtual machine output planning process is started.
When a guidance plan is output from the route guidance planning unit 112 (E34), the virtual machine output control unit 102 updates the virtual machine output plan by the virtual machine output re-planning process, and updates the output plan to the virtual machine 101. An event is output (E35).
When the output plan update event is input, the virtual machine 101 executes the output plan update event program registered in (E31) (E36).

  Here, the application software 100 determines whether it is necessary to output the first information. If it is determined that it is unnecessary, the application software 100 outputs a request for canceling the output request for the first information to the virtual machine 101 (E37). When the cancellation request is input, the virtual machine 101 outputs the cancellation request to the virtual machine output control unit 102 (E38). When the cancellation request is input, the virtual machine output control unit 102 deletes the output processing of the first information that has been queued after being delayed from the output plan of the virtual machine. At this time, the virtual machine output replanning process may be performed to update the virtual machine output plan.

  As described above, according to the in-vehicle terminal device 1 of the present invention, the virtual machine output control unit 102 notifies the virtual machine 101 of an event when the output plan of the virtual machine is updated. Then, when the event is notified, the application software 100 or the virtual machine 101 controls to cancel the output of the first information or to change the output plan. For this reason, information that is out of date, information that is no longer necessary, or the like is not output, and information can be appropriately provided to the operator. In addition, the output load of the first information by the virtual machine 101 can be reduced.

  The above description of the embodiment is for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and does not limit the present invention. It goes without saying that the present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the gist thereof, and that the present invention includes equivalents thereof.

It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the vehicle-mounted terminal device 1 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the function of the vehicle-mounted terminal device 1 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the guidance plan demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the character parameter | index database 103 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the output control process performed by the virtual machine output control part 102 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a graph which shows the time change of the character parameter | index when the route guidance plan part 112 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention outputs the guidance plan shown in FIG. It is a graph which shows the time change of the accumulation character parameter | index corresponding to the graph 303 shown in FIG. 5 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a graph which shows the accumulation character parameter | index of only the output request of the 1st information demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. 7 is a graph obtained by adding the cumulative character index shown in the graph 313 of FIG. 6 to the graph 314 shown in FIG. 7 described as an embodiment of the present invention. It is a graph which shows the accumulation character parameter | index demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. 7 is a graph obtained by adding a cumulative character index shown in a graph 313 in FIG. 6 to a graph 316 described as an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining the output control process performed by the virtual machine output control part 102 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. (A) thru | or (f) is a graph which shows the time change of the accumulation character parameter | index demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the guidance plan demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the output plan of the virtual machine demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the whole output plan at the time of integrating the virtual machine output plan of FIG. 13 with the guidance plan of FIG. 12 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 15 is a graph of cumulative character indexes for the entire output plan shown in FIG. 14 described as an embodiment of the present invention. It is the graph which added the graph 324 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention to the graph 323. FIG. It is the graph which added the graph 325 demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention to the graph 323. FIG. It is a sequence diagram explaining the process regarding the notification of the output delay event demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining the process regarding the notification of the output start event demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention, and an output completion event. It is a sequence diagram explaining the process regarding the notification of the output plan update event demonstrated as one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Application software 101 Virtual machine 102 Virtual machine output control part 103 Character index database 104 Character index evaluation part 111 Route search part 112 Route guidance plan part 113 Road information database 114 Point information database 115 Navigation part 121 Voice control part 122 Output part 123 Display control unit

Claims (10)

An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device having a virtual machine that requests output of first information and a navigation unit that requests output of second information,
The in-vehicle terminal device is
Generating a first index indicating an amount of information of the first information;
Planning the time of outputting the first information based on the first indicator. An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device. An information output control method according to claim 1,
The in-vehicle terminal device is
Generating a second index indicating an amount of information of the second information;
Planning a time for outputting the first information or the second information based on the first index and the second index;
An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device, further comprising: An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device according to claim 2,
The in-vehicle terminal device is
A cumulative value obtained by adding the first index and the second index output in a past fixed time and the first index for the first information for which a new output is requested is obtained. An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device, further comprising: planning a time for outputting the first information or the second information so as not to exceed a preset threshold value. An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device according to claim 2,
The in-vehicle terminal device is
Generating an overall output plan based on the output plan of the first information by the virtual machine and the output plan of the second information input from the navigation unit;
Obtaining a cumulative value of the first index and the second index for the overall output plan;
Planning the time of outputting the first information or the second information so that the cumulative value does not exceed a preset threshold value. Control method. It is the information output control method of the vehicle-mounted terminal device as described in any one of Claim 3 or 4,
The in-vehicle terminal device is
An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device, further comprising: changing the threshold value according to a vehicle traveling speed. It is the information output control method of the vehicle-mounted terminal device as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4, Comprising:
The in-vehicle terminal device is
Determining whether to output the first information when planning the time to output the first information; and
In-vehicle terminal device information further comprising the step of performing the determination again after changing the output method of the first information when it is determined that the first information cannot be output. Output control method. It is the information output control method of the vehicle-mounted terminal device as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6, Comprising:
The in-vehicle terminal device is
Notifying the virtual machine of the result of the plan for outputting the first information;
An information output control method for an in-vehicle terminal device, further comprising: canceling output of the first information or updating the plan according to a response result of the virtual machine to the notification. In a vehicle-mounted terminal device having a virtual machine that requests output of first information and a navigation unit that requests output of second information,
A function of generating a first index indicating an information amount of the first information;
A function of generating a second index indicating an information amount of the second information;
A function of planning a time for outputting the first information or the second information based on the first index and the second index;
The program characterized by including the program for implement | achieving. The program according to claim 8, wherein
In the in-vehicle terminal device,
A cumulative value obtained by adding the first index and the second index in the past fixed time and the first index for the first information for which a new output is requested is set in advance. A program for realizing a function of planning a time for outputting the first information or the second information so as not to exceed a threshold value. The program according to claim 8, wherein
In the in-vehicle terminal device,
A function of generating an overall output plan based on the output plan of the first information by the virtual machine and the output plan of the second information input from the navigation unit;
A function for obtaining a cumulative value of the first index and the second index for the overall output plan;
A program for realizing a function of planning a time for outputting the first information or the second information so that the cumulative value does not exceed a preset threshold value. .

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